The IMC’s chief executive says “there is a very big misunderstanding of what this industry is all about” but thinks the reshuffling of the European Parliament is a unique chance to set the record straight.

Opinion of the editor: “We, Members of the European Parliament, are writing to express our concern about the visa waiver program that the EU currently has with St. Kitts and Nevis,” write MEPs Ana Gomes and Marietje Schaake in a letter addressed to the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, as well

The European Parliament today voted to adopt the TAX3 Committee’s February report calling for a “phasing out” of RCBI in Europe. The IMC has reacted with disappointment, calling instead on MEPs to support its work in raising industry standards.

The European Parliament is about to vote on a report that urges the “phasing out” of investment migration programs. Such a decision would have severe adverse effects on Europe’s peripheral economies, says the IMC, which urges MEPs not to support the calls for the industry’s discontinuation.

Earlier this week, the Malta Individual Investor Programme’s regulator – ORiip – published its annual report on the MIIP which showed the program had already raised in excess of a billion euros. Also included in that report was Regulator Carmel L. De Gabriele’s foreword, in which he expressed “utter dismay” at the European Commission (EC)

During a debate among members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, earlier this week, President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus came out in defense of his country’s citizenship by investment program. As part of a broader debate titled the Future of Europe, the president commented on the parliamentarians’ repeated criticism of the Cyprus CIP in recent months,

Recently, the EU Parliament published a draft report on financial crimes, tax evasion, and tax avoidance. This draft report “Concludes that the potential economic benefits of CBI and RBI schemes do not offset the serious money laundering and tax evasion risks they present; calls on Member States to phase out all existing CBI or RBI schemes

In a draft report published last week, the European Parliament’s Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion, and Tax Avoidance Committee called for the “phasing out” of investment migration programs across Europe. Today, Bruno L’ecuyer, head of the Investment Migration Council, urges stakeholders to put things in perspective to engender a “mature debate about investor migration”. “Immigration is always

During an interview with IMI at the Investment Immigration Summit in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, Bruno L’ecuyer, CEO of the Investment Migration Council, spoke about how the industry association is meeting the challenges brought on by increased scrutiny from supranational bodies like the EU and the OECD. “We want to meet with the

In a draft report published yesterday, the European Parliament’s Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion, and Tax Avoidance Committee is calling for the “phasing out” of all EU golden visa and citizenship by investment programs. The pretext for the recommendation is these programs’ perceived threat to security in the Union, as well as their potential for “CRS

In a response to the European Parliament’s report on the residence and citizenship by investment industry, the Investment Migration Council has issued a statement, reprinted in full below: Today, the European Parliamentary Research Service has recognised Residency and Citizenship by Investment Programmes as a legitimate sovereign capital raising mechanism and the positive economic impact that

The European Parliamentary Research Service has published a report on residence and citizenship by investment programs in the EU, suggesting how the EU should “deal with” such schemes. The report comes as a result of requests from the European Parliament’sSpecial Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance(TAX3) for a study on CBI and RBI

This article was contributed by regular columnist Stephane Tajick. For more articles by Stephane, see the “Tajick’s Take” column. The principal offering of any citizenship by investment program (CIP) is access to EU member states, be it visa-free travel within the Schengen area or the right of settlement in European countries. Since the source of

Residence and citizenship by investment programs have come under criticism in the European Parliament in recent months with several MEPs calling for their closure. That – according to Chair in EU Constitutional Law at the University of Groningen, Professor Dimitry Kochenov – would be impossible, unless the European Union first became a superstate. More on

The European Parliament (EP) has issued a formal position on the matter of residence and citizenship by investment programs in which it acknowledges EU member states have self-determination as regards the awarding and revocation of citizenships, but that “member states should use their prerogative to award citizenship in line with international and EC [European Commission] law” and that